The Womens Room

The rise of the lipstick entrepreneurs

  
According to to an article in the FT last week, the recession is accelerating the growth of a new generation of "lipstick entrepreneurs", who will reshape society and change the way people work. The report from the Future Laboratory predicts that number of female enterprises could double over the next 10 years, taking the number of self employed women running businesses to more than 2m.

They site women like Natalie Massenet of Net-a-Porter, Chrissie Rucker of The White Company and Laura Tenison of JoJo Mamon Bébé as role models, and forecast that the number of female Chief Executives at FTSE companies will increase from just five in 2008 to more than 50 in the next decade.

The report thinks the women may have opted out of a successful career to strike out on their own, stepped up to protect their family's finances, run a business in addition to a full-time job, worked from home to juggle career and family, or turned a hobby into a business. They range from self-employed school leavers to some who are beyond retirement age.

We totally agree with this thinking and have had many discussions about how, especially when you get to a certain age, running your own business must surely be the most satisfying way to earn a living. Whether it's a very simple idea that stays small and easy to manage, or a big idea that will grow and grow, the important thing is, it's yours. The chance to utilise your skills, try something new and do it on your own terms seems like a very tempting idea.

But why is it that more women don't do it? We have great ideas, an amazing ability to multi task, are not afraid of hard work and are generally good at managing people. But we can always find a reason 'not to.' Is it an essentially female characteristic that stops us? Lack of confidence, a feeling that we are somehow not good enough, or if we are mothers, do we think we would have to sacrifice family time for long hours in the office? It's probably all of the above and more, but somehow as you get older those things seem to matter less and less. We feel more ready to take risks and embrace new challenges. We are less concerned with what others think and more confident in our abilities. And if our children are growing up and leaving home, we are more than ready to get back to work and prove ourselves, while our partners are desperate to retire and take up golf!! 

We have the experience and the wisdom (hopefully), the enthusiasm and the ideas, so perhaps its time to shake off that uncertainty, be confident and think like a man.

BTW, just like we don't like pink laptops, we don't like the term "lipstick entrepreneurs." Why cant we just entrepreneurs?

We love: India's Posterous

Doesn't this picture make you want to drop everything and make a cake? India Knight is one of our favourite journos and we were thrilled to discover that she has started a blog called India's Posturous. This cake is on her new blog, India found it on the very clever Whatever blog, which was also featured on the Urban Outfitters blog, which goes to show just how quickly cooking a colourful cake at home for the kids can cause a global baking pandemic.

There's a lot of good stuff on India's Posturous and she's only just begun so we'll be putting her on our right hand column list of great blogs to follow. She also wrote a good article on women talking through blogs in this weekend's Sunday Times magazine (without once mentioning her own, which we thought was incredibly non-show-off-ish of her, we'd have had ours in the first para), where she lists a few more wordy blogs to follow.

Ms Knight states that blogs are a perfect medium for women who are at home with children, often feeling isolated due to their circumstance, to express themselves. There are some great writers emerging from the blogosphere who perfectly distill domestic dullness into something hilarious and entertaining. Life, particularly with children, is not pretty and is rarely as it is displayed in magazines. Blogs, with their personal, non edited, non advertising-influenced, non book deal compromised writing tell it as it is, and makes us screech with laughter. Our favourite of India's list has to be Belgian Waffle.

Some statistics to think on

 
  
Picked up a copy of More, our favourite American over 40s mag while in New York. More does a great little page of statistics about older women, this month they were pretty interesting as the mag had commissioned research on American working older women (it interviewed 501 women between 40 and 60 yrs), here's what it found out....

• The happiest working women who didn't want to swap their jobs were teachers.
• Women in their 40s value a flexible working schedule more than women in their 50s.
• 75% of older working women say salary has become a bigger deal recently as they consider their futures.
• Women in their 40s are more likely to want to be entrepreneurs than women in their 50s.
• And women in their 40s are more likely to consider going back to school, whereas the over 50s are less enthusiastic about extra learning.
• 63% of high earners consider a job you are passionate about is more rewarding than a high pay check
• 70% of the women interviewed had been working for 20 years or more and only 1% had never held a job.

At a quick glance the figures seem to suggest that if you want to learn a new trade or invent a money making new product, best to get on with it, as motivation clearly drops off as you enter your 50s. And maybe a high salary is not everything. Anyone who chose teaching can give themselves a pat on the back, although I have to say that some of the teachers I know have a jolly tough time (mostly with hideous parents).

Do we stop wanting to learn after we hit 50? We don't think so, but we do know that energy levels start to flag, although enthusiasm does not, so perhaps we just need to pace ourselves. One reassuring thing the research discovered was that mid life career changers tend to shoot up the ladder, their passion and enthusiasm for their new roles turns quickly to promotion. Knowledge, maturity and life experiences are transferable skills and if you take advantage of them, you'll advance more quickly.

So if you are on the brink of returning to work after having kids, or have reached the middle of your working career and are thinking 'Am I going to do this forever?', remember that you've done such a lot already, a change or a new challange can't be that difficult compared to what you've already achieved.

And we read today on WGSN, the fashion trend forcasting site that the fastest growing demographic of new users on Facebook was women over 55. So clearly we are enthusiastic about learning some things.

What we would love: a good nights sleep

Disturbed sleep is a very real problem in many womens lives. It is also an unpleasant (one of the many) symptom of the peri menopause. We have tried various ways to get a full eight hours, but have begun to think that maybe padding around the house at 3 am is becoming part of our routine (and not in a good way). So we were delighted when we visited Origins last week and found they had introduced a Night Health range. 

We already love Peace of Mind their on the spot relief cream, for those tense moments, so decided to give this range a try. We bought the Bedtime Bath Oil which includes a blend of Chamomile, Lavender and Mandarin essential oils. It has been developed by Dr Andrew Weil, Origins very own sleep specialist. The range also includes a face cream, bedtime balm and bedtime spray.

Dr Weil says the key to a good nights sleep is, keeping your bedroom, cool, dark, quiet and 'green,' which means bedding made of natural fabrics. Learning to surrender willingly to sleep (easier said than done!) Avoid excessively stimulating books, or having a television in your bedroom and staying away from alcohol, caffeine and nicotine.

We defiantly notice our sleep is much worse after more than two glasses of wine and find ourselves increasingly conscious of this. So after a cup of Chamomile tea, a hot bath with the Origins oil and the most boring book in the world, I did finally get a good nights sleep.

Let us know your tips for a full eight hours?

New New Yorker: The dinner party

Oh it’s all very fabulous in NYC but I am reeling from the shock of a Saturday night in the suburbs. It was Real Housewives of New Jersey stuff at the magnificent home of Michelle, her husband Big Tony and son, Little Tony. Though not in New Jersey (upstate New York to be precise) the house was truly palatial – all gleaming surfaces with flashes of gold, bronze, and marble glistening in the chandelier light. We were guests so manners prevent me from snobbishness but if I was to be snobby, let me tell you, to use Michelle speak, she would not give a flying f—k. 

“WHERE’S YOUR DRIVER?” She screeched, peering past us as we walked in. “YOU DROVE YOURSELVES, FROM THE CITY? OH-MY-GAAAD!!!! TONY, CAN YOU BELEEEVE THEY DROVE THEMSELVES HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I thought she was going to call an ambulance, it was only a 40 minute journey.

The fine dining commenced and dinner conversation progressed. It’s safe to say our hosts were pretty average middle Americans and their views were issued unashamedly. We soon learned that at the present time they hate:  Obama, the Nobel prize committee, the Olympic selection committee (patriotic, see) people on welfare, ‘the crazy British health care system’ and just about anything that involves helping anyone else. They would happily let the US car industry be destroyed even though it supports entire cities.

In their huge garden, Michelle and Tony grow nothing they can eat.

Just back from a trip to London they were aghast at how expensive everything is in the UK. “How do you MANAGE????” screamed Michelle. “Cabs, restaurants, it’s all toooooo goddamn EXPENSIVE!!!!”  
I had a think about this and began trying to explain how we lived in our North London house. “Er well we get a few veggies from the farmer’s market on Saturdays. We might go for a curry or round to friends, we don’t eat out that much.”  I began. Sympathetic, puzzled faces greeted me. To them, I was a poor, sad little thing. I realised that to live in England like Michelle and Tony live, would be hugely expensive and maybe that is the fundamental difference between our two countries? My friends in Britain enjoy simple pleasures, lovely food cooked at home or at the pub, fresh flowers from their gardens, a stroll on a beach, across the moors or in a park, great newspapers and radio. Life seems rich in Britain and most ordinary folk seem to be able afford it.  

So Wannabe WAGs take note. In the USA the Colleen/Posh lifestyle comes at a fraction of the price of the UK. The diamonds cost about the same but the houses, massive cars, lobsters and steaks can be had in the suburbs of America for easily what you’re earning now. So the next time you’re feeling a bit impoverished, comfort yourself that you could trade it all in for a life of utter splendor in suburban USA. Don’t all rush at once now……..

Yours homesickly-ish this week! xxx

We still love: Ab Fab

When we watched this first time round we thought it was funny but we didn't actually identify with it. We were too young and probably more in tune with Bubble, than Eddie and Patsy. Watching the early episodes again (it lost the plot towards the end) make us hoot with laughter, but spookily we see some similarities with our own lives. 

This episode about Eddies weight particularly resonates, and sadly I even used to wear a very very similar t shirt and Pucci legging combo!! "Inside us all there is a thin person just screaming to get out, thin ankles, thin ankles!!"

New New Yorker: A just-moved to New York Brit dishes on life in the Big Apple

Today we introduce the first in our new series of letters from New York. 
One of our dearest friends (who just happens to be a writer) has recently 
moved to NYC and brings us an inside view of life in the big apple.

My Sex and the City 2 scare!

When I moved to NYC two months ago, I blocked the big things like children, family and homesickness from my head and focused on my appearance. It was a shallow, easy distraction I thought.  

Before moving I had imagined I might dabble in the world of cosmetic surgery as I’m 46, a bit saggy and aging fast. Instead, I’ve gone the other way. Why, I’m even growing my armpit hair! 
In a city of supermodels and super-slick women, I just don’t want to look like a sad copy. Also, I’ve rediscovered the New York of my youthful dreams. It’s all the first Fame movie, Lou Reed, flea markets and punk rock. I am SO not interested in the Upper East Side. In fact, going over there to my son’s school depresses me. All that is Super Bad about Western life is there, in one small coterie of streets and shops.

Instead, I prefer to take the subway downtown, or hang out with the eccentrics in the caffs on the Upper West Side where I live. My fashion choices revolve around the Tibet Bazaar and whatever is left over from my summer wardrobe with a jacket over the top. I’ve stopped wearing make-up altogether apart from the odd slash of ultra-red or purple lipstick, neither of which I have ever worn before in my life.  

The biggest scare out of my old NY beauty plan and into my new one, was the sight of the SATC 2 women filming a scene from the new movie. I stumbled across them outside Bergys (Bergdorf Goodman) two weeks ago and honestly! A sadder selection of examples of our sex you would be hard pushed to find. Half naked, embarrassingly over-made up with faces contorted from chemicals, needles and surgeons, I’ve never seen more pitiful creatures. Clinging to youth and beauty with their false fingernail ends, they reminded me of the rabbits of Watership Down.  

SJP is pretty enough but she is wizened. The rest are freakish. Cynthia looks evil, Kim looks desperate and Kristin has face-lift wrinkles and is a lost soul. These women personify all that is bad and desperate for women in our times. If you are a free-thinker you will shun SATC 2, you will find humour in something other than variations on the Cinderella theme and you will never, ever have plastic surgery.

More soon!

Sandy Lewis in the Sunday Times

In a shameless plug for family success, we would urge you to read Sandy and Max Lewis in the Sunday Times today. We've written about Sandy and Max before when we featured Sandy's book Living With Max, which is a heartfelt account of the highs and lows of bringing up a child with Downs Syndrome. Sandy is Amanda's sister. The book goes from strength to strength and Sandy and Max have done a summer full of daytime TV appearences, book signings and other media stuff.

Somehow getting in The Sunday Times seems the very best thing and we are immensely proud of them both. We have been reading Relative Values in the ST all our lives, so to see your sister and nephew featured is beyond exciting and a little awe inspiring. It's been a hard struggle for Sandy, her husband Paul, Max and his brother Charlie, but they have all done so much to raise the issues of Downs Syndrome and the need to change attitudes towards all disabilities. Go sis!

Sandy and Max in the Sunday Times 

Sandy's blog on living with Max

We love: The Make Lounge

Lavender Bakery cupcakes for The Make Lounge

September is the month when ones thoughts turn to the Autumn and Winter months ahead and the plans you made (on that sunbed in france!) to do something useful with your spare time. 

We love anything craft based and are always up for learning new skills here at the Womens Room, so we were delighted when we found The Make Lounge. Based in leafy Barnsbury, North London, founder Jennifer Pirtle, offers a contemporary take on the evening class. The slogan 'meet people, make stuff,' perfectly sums up their philosophy, as classes offer the chance to learn new skills in a relaxed friendly atmosphere and take home a gorgeous completed item. 

Workshops are available for all levels and are kept deliberately short, so as not to interfere too much with everyday life. Traditional skills are taught using modern materials, which means your finished item will have a contemporary look. 

Classes are held on weekday evenings and repeated on Saturday and Sunday mornings, with Saturday afternoons devoted to group bookings, a popular choice for Hen parties (nibbles and wine are available). Sunday afternoons are devoted to children's parties and classes and include a Sewing Club and Crochet Camp and holiday courses. 

The calender for September includes crocheting fashion accessories, extraordinary embroidery, cupcake decorating and making a cushion cover with a floral corsage. 
We just cant decide which one to do?

We love: The Do Lectures

The Do Lectures are a brilliant idea. Organised annually by the same people that founded clothes company Howies, they are a celebration of all those inspiring individuals who just get on and do things that make a difference. While the rest of us chatter on about the good ideas we come up with on a regular basis, the Do-ers actually get on with things and achieve amazing results just by getting out there and having a go. Some of them end up being very successful at it, and those are the people that organisers Clare and David Hieatt invite down to Wales to tell their story, so that some of their enthusiasm and pluck might inspire the rest of us. The whole week, which this year is scheduled September 3-7, turns into an inspiration-fest, which Howies describes as a bit of a Glastonbury for the mind.

 

There are only 60 places for the weekend, which is located at the ‘magical’ Fforest Farm, located between the spectacular Teifi gorge and Teifi marshes in Wales. Howies warn that there is ‘ No trouser press. No mini bar. No T.V. No dimmer switch for the stars and no wake up call unless you count the dawn chorus. Just a welcome return to the simple stuff.’

 

Eventually all the lectures will be on line, the aim is to get one million people to view the talks for free online ,which as David says, isn’t bad for a tent that only holds 85. To find out who is speaking and discover more, check out the Do Lectures website . Give your brain a holiday, tickets are £1000 for the week for individuals and £2000 for companies.

We love: Vintage Vacations

 

As you know we are looking for a holiday in the UK this year and are loving anything Vintage, so Vintage Vacations is ticking all our boxes. We think we may be too late to book for this summer, as anything this fabulous is sure to be snapped up, but stick it in you favourites, for an Autumn mini break.

Situated in the Isle of Wight, Vintage Vacations offer a unique way to holiday at home in retro style. Vintage American Airstream caravans complete with 1950's interiors, a wooden beach shack retreat, a tin Tabernacle Mission hut featuring an authentic 1950's 'English Rose' kitchen, or our personal favourite 'The Bungalow,' a 1960's three bedroom holiday chalet by the sea, are all available to rent.

So book now for an off beat holiday that will take you back to those simple back to basics holidays of your childhood.  Just pack up Ludo, your Top of the Pops LP's and some tinned Campbells meatballs and Angel Delight and you're all set for a nostalgic staycation.

We love: Avon Calling!

We just have to hear "Ding dong, Avon calling!" to be immediately whisked back to 60s and 70s, watching our mums pour over the red lipsticks and face creams seductively retrieved from the Avon lady’s bag onto the kitchen table. We have our rose-coloured retro-specs on, but you know where we’re coming from.

Much like Tupperware parties (another thing we get all nostalgic about) the house-calling Avon Ladies offered a great service to women stuck in the middle of nowhere with a need for glamour. It’s easy to forget just how deprived we were a few decades ago in terms of retail, now that we can get twenty shades of red lipstick from our corner Tesco store.

We thought Avon had disappeared but far from it, the company is celebrating its 50th birthday this year and is now the world’s largest direct supplier of well priced beauty goods. It is also a supporter of the fight against breast cancer, in fact it is the biggest global corporate supporter of the breast cancer cause having raised $585 million.

Avon UK has raised £15 million since 1992 for breat cancer charites, which goes towards funding 4 research Dr Avons who are helping to find a cure. Much of that money is raised through this little jewelled lapel pin and to celebrate being 50 and for Breast Cancer Aware month (which isn’t actually until October, but we’re SO ahead of things here, and anyway every month should be breast cancer aware month really, shouldn’t it?) Avon has teamed up with one of our favourite Women’s Room designers, Betty Jackson.

In designing the new pin Ms Jackson states that she knows so many friends who have had or are fighting the disease that it seemed a natural fit for her to support this. As we get older the spectre of ill health lurks menacingly in all our backgrounds and we all know someone touched by this awful cancer monster. So the pin seems a good thing to buy and it’s only £1.50 for goodness sake.

If you don’t have an Avon lady calling regularly, you can go online and check out the breast cancer crusade to buy your pin. While you are there, you might like to purchase the brand’s best selling and longest lasting product, Skin So Soft, which was introduced in 1961 and is still going strong. It is undergoing a half century revamp in July and we are informed by the nice ladies at Avon that it is worth looking out for the Skin So Soft ultra moisturising body lotion at £4.00, although we fancy the Soft and fresh dry oil body spray at £5.00, which we've just ordered, along with our pin, we’ll let you know what we think when we’ve tried it.

 

The Betty Jackson designed pin to celebrate breast cancer awareness with Avon

Buy this: Dr Hauschka's Intensive Treatment 04

We have long been fans of the amazing Dr Hauschka skin care range. The products contain only high-quality ingredients such as Almond, Avocado and Jojoba oil; natural waxes such as Beeswax, Candelilla and Rose wax; skin-nurturing medicinal herbs, Anthyllis, Nasturtium and Daisy and natural essential oils such as Lavender, Rose and Lemon oil. They are also bio-dynamic, which means they use the rhythms of nature, the moon and planets to determine when to sow and harvest.
Sounds a bit hippy dippy? Well quite frankly we don't care, as the products actually work!

Our current favourite was bought in a moment of panic, 'help me please', I cried, to the lovely women in Fresh and Wild,  'my aging skin is flakey and hideous.'
She recommended Intensive Treatment 04, a 28-day treatment specifically formulated to firm and regenerate skin that is beginning to show the signs of aging.
Day 20, and I'm wary of sounding like an advert, but my skin is actually smoother and all flakiness is gone.

 

Its not cheap at £58.98, but we think are there are some things worth spending money on when you get to a certain age and skin care (along with shoes) is one of them

There is also Intensive treatment 05, designed to help reduce menopause-related pigmentation and caused by hot flushes, but we are saving that one for our next skin emergency.

 

50 is the New Fifty, apparently

Suzanne Braun Levine has just released a new book in the States called 50 is the new Fifty, which encourages the thought that life is just terrific for women in their fifties and sixties so long as they don't waste time trying to look and act as if they were a whole lot younger.

She states on her website that "The assumption is that youth-or at least younger- is the ideal state and that, given a choice, no women in her right mind would relinquish it. I have found the opposite to be true. Many of us delight in rejecting that backward looking mindset of Fifty is the new 30". Here at The Women's Room we can certainly see the sense of this thinking after having seen too many pictures of a truly terrifying looking Madonna seemingly going backwards (visually) with her age.

Levine has some very glamourous support in the form of Jane Fonda, Isabella Rossellini and Gloria Steinman who are discussing the book at the bookstore Barnes & Noble in New York today (one for our American readers). Gloria Steinman came up with one of our favourite quotes on being older when she was told by a reporter just after her 40th birthday that she didn't look her age, "This is what 40 looks like" Steinman replied "we've been lying for so long, who knew?" The event is hosted by our new favourite magazine More, which we mentioned in a previous posting.

We haven't read this book as it is only available in the States currently, but we like the idea that we should chill a little over the pressures of always looking younger. Sure we should still take care of ourselves, love our clothes and want to look and feel great, but that does not mean we have to emulate youth. Why bother? We've got so much else to get on with and enjoy without chasing the impossible.

We're always banging on about how this generation of women is redefining what it is to be an older woman at The Women's Room and it's not about looking backwards towards what's been and is never coming back, it's about appreciating today and breaking a few rules going forward.

Ms Levine's website is a good substitute for the lack of book availabilty for our non US readers (and "hello!" to our readers in Argentina and Ukraine, by the way) so take a browse and get inspired. (We loved Isabella Rossellini's Green Porn film by the way).

Suzanne Braun Levine 50 is the New Fifty 

 

Buy this: Burt's Bees Beeswax Hand Creme

Some of our readers, clearly itching to start shopping again after months of frugality, have asked if we would start a Buy This feature, where each week they could be directed to something we've seen and approved of.

This week we've chosen Burt's Bees Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Creme, possibly the best smelling hand cream ever, if you like almonds and marzipan. Hand cream for older hands needs applying very regularly and we have the quaint little jars stashed all over the place so we can keep up. Lucinda Chambers, Vougue's fashion director recently said that this cream was 'like furniture polish for hands' which sums it up beautifully. Luxuriously rich, it is available at Boots on-line for £8.81, but I know I've also bought it from Waitrose before and slipped it into the weekly shop as my treat. Others rave about the banana version, also available at Boots, but for us it's the almond milk one every time.

Burt's at Boots

We love: The Red Hat Society

 

Since Boomer women (born between 1945 and 1964) make up great swathes of the population in the US as well as Europe, we are not surprised to hear that our sisters in the States have started some great communities celebrating older women.

The Women’s Room reader Hilda Marshall Johnson has brought The Red Hat Society to our attention, which started in the US in 1998 and has spread all around the globe and is now the biggest community of women over 50 in the world. Hilda belongs to the Fowey chapter, the Red Hot Pokers.

We like the sound of it for a number of reasons, not least because it was inspired by a poem that celebrates clothes (Warning, by Jenny Joseph), including the eponymous red hat and purple dresses, which all members wear when they meet up. But also because they main purpose of the community is to celebrate silliness and have a damn good time, which we heartily condone.

The founder of the society, Sue Ellen Cooper says on the society's website “The Red Hat Society began as a result of a few women deciding to greet middle age with verve, humour and élan. We believe silliness is the comedy relief of life, and since we are all in it together, we might as well join red-gloved hands and go for the gusto together. Underneath the frivolity, we share a bond of affection, forged by common life experiences and a genuine enthusiasm for wherever life takes us next".

Hilda claims it’s not just a blast, a bit like the WI after a couple of martinis, but if you are new to an area and want to make friends, it links you in with like minded women and even Red Hatters from abroad. She tells us "We have entertained women from other parts of Britain, Australia and America and one of our group travelling alone met up with others in Australia and New Zealand."

She is not quite sure where how her group got its fiery name, which was chosen after a lively visit to Ascot, when a number of names were discussed, "But we felt it was wiser to wait until the following morning to choose!" she says. We also liked the Texan chapter of the society, which have named themselves the Red Hat Rockettes, their website can not be viewed without giggling, totally bonkers but undeniably cheerful. And according to Hilda it would seem the hats and dresses help  the enjoyment along "It’s fun, all inclusive and you can get up to all sorts of mischief when you’re in disguise".

Check out the  The Red Hat Society website for details on a group near you.

We love; Nudo

Finding original present ideas for friends and family tends to get more and more difficult with age, especially when it's an important birthday such the big four 0 or even five 0. The pressure is on to buy something thoughtful, unique and stylish.

Visiting the Real Food Show last week, we came across the perfect gift, suitable for anyone in your life who appreciates good food and cares where it comes from.

The Nudo adopt an olive tree scheme allows you to choose an olive tree for one year and receive its delicious produce. Simply log onto the website, choose your tree from various different Italian groves and find out about the area, the farmer who will be tending your tree and the taste of the oil.
When you have chosen and adopted a tree, you recieve an adoption certificate and your tree information booklet. Over the course of the year you'll receive two more packages, one in the spring and one in the autumn, containing all the produce from your tree. They do state that they actually harvest about 50 trees at a time in order to have enough olives to press, but ask you to think of it 'as being about society rather than the individual.'

We tasted some of the oils and they were delicious, we also loved the packaging and the story behind the brand which they have recently published in The Dolce Vita Diaries. The book tells how co-founders Jason Gibb and Cathy Rogers, left careers in London to start an olive farm in Italy. Jason says;

"It's a very funny, deliciously different foodie travelogue about the trials and tribulations of setting up a olive oil business in rural Italy. It's a warts-and-all account of what it's really like to throw it all in, follow your dream and end up in the middle of a European nowhere untouched by modernity. At the end of each chapter are delicious recipes which we used along the way."

We haven't read the book yet but will definitely be adding it to our summer reading list and the recipes sound like a must for anyone who's expecting a delivery of oil from their adopted tree!

The Dolce vita diaries blog

Festival Time: Latitude

Usually the idea of a weekend in a tent with our nearest and dearest, surrounded by thousands of other people and loud music,would fill us with utter horror. Our days of drug fueled bad dancing and staying up for days at a time are well and truely over, but it doesn't mean we don't still love music or know how to enjoy ourselves.
The Latitude festival in Suffolk is the perfect combination of music, culture and beautiful scenery to keep all your family members happy. A friend described last years event as 'like a weekend in Stoke Newington on Sea,' cool 20 somethings, laid back mums and dads, scruffy little kids and hip teens, all having a great time.

There really is something for everyone, with a great music line up, which includes 80's favourites and recently hip again, Grace Jones, The Pet Shop Boys and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
On the Uncut stage, Bat For Lashes and Gossip will headline and Spiritualized, Squeeze and Newton Faulkner will also play.
We are particularly looking forward to Regina Spektor and one of our old favourites, Magazine.

The festival has more than its fair share of culture which includes theatre, poetry, film, literary, cabaret and comedy arenas. Highlights include a dance performance by the lake from Sadlers Well's, the RSC will mix Shakespeare and flowers, and a performance by outgoing poet laureate Andrew Motion.
BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music will be broadcasting live from the festival for the first time and Radio 4 will once again record some of their popular shows in front of a live audience.

Accommodation options include basic camping, ready pitched tents in the Tangerine Fields, Myhabs and Podpads (small Hobbit like spaces) Or if you really fancy a treat, try a luxurious Yurtel. 
For £1150 you get a  double / twin room for 4 nights. The spacious 14ft yurts come carpeted with a king size / twin bed and a real mattress, duvet with white Egyptian cotton linen, hanging clothes storage, bedside table & lamp, central electric light, towels and miniature toiletries, chocolates on your pillow, flowers at your bed side, and of course, the magical (almost camping like) experience of sleeping in a yurt!

Set in the beautiful Henham Park, minutes away from the glorious Suffolk sunrise coast, Latitude has something for everyone and is the only festival we will be attending this summer.

Latitude Festival
Henham Park,
Southwold,
Suffolk,
Thursday 16th - Sunday 19th July

We (possibly) love: Yoga retreats

What did you do this Bank Holiday weekend? something different like visit a yoga retreat? Well, The Women's Room reader Lindsay Howell, Interior decorator and yoga enthusiast did just that. She tells us how she got on....

"Yoga has been a constant in my life but more as a quick salute to the sun, into the lotus position without the knees complaining too much and a few chanted oms. I always knew there was more to the discipline so headed off to the Mandala Ashram in Llandeilo, Wales equipped with bedding (this was no luxurious spa holiday.) and my friend Deb to learn more on a two day weekend retreat.

The journey to the ashram on a glorious spring day through the valley was absolutely stunning, rolling fields and scattered farms with an occasional castle. On arrival we were ushered to a soup and bread supper eaten in silence. Having rushed excitedly to get to there, eating in silence was a bit of a shock and felt silly, we tried hard not to giggle.

There was a mixed bunch of ages and types at the retreat, not all vegan tree hugging hippies as we had jokingly guessed and many were yoga novices. Our accommodation was basic but fine; I was in a dormitory with 2 others although there was room for 8, with a communal bathroom and the veggie food was delicious.

Yoga started at 7.30pm, we had an introductory talk about the Ashram some chanting and meditation and then off to our beds in silence at 9p.m. I couldn’t resist sneaking off to the car park to check for messages and felt really naughty, especially after a very funny message from my husband - must try harder. The course was an introduction to Ashram life and is recommended if you have never been to an Ashram before, it’s quite disciplined and not for everyone, one person left the next morning.

We were up at 6a.m. in silence and our introduction to the different paths of Yoga began.  These included Hatha Yoga (body based practice), Mantra Yoga (using sound), Karma Yoga (the practice of acting in the present moment with awareness), Satsung (questions and answers), and Dhyana Yoga (meditation). After our fantastic Hatha Yoga session with Jyoti and then chanting we had breakfast (a bowl of porridge) then we could talk but we felt so relaxed we didn’t feel the need to chat too much. At 9a.m the most controversial part of our yoga experience was timetabled, this was Karma yoga, which meant doing chores with the belief that working selflessly frees the mind.

At first I grumbled to myself, this is what I do at home! But I tried to “be present in the moment with awareness”, instead of my usual approach of getting the work over with as quickly as possible.  Some people felt it was cheap labour, but if it means that the Ashram can run these courses at reasonable prices (our weekend was £145.00 all inclusive) this must be a positive reason for doing it, another person left at this stage. Cleaning the toilets proved too much.

All the Yoga we experienced was challenging but well taught by people who were obviously passionate about their subject. I was perplexed by the chanting, but when the Swami explained that it was all about the resonance of the sounds we were making and not the words which we were saying, it seemed to make much more sense. We had a break in the afternoon to do whatever we wanted, I went for a walk along the ridge which was breathtaking, apparently the film Stardust was filmed around this area. A Red Kite flew up the ridge and was so close I felt I could touch it, I was very ‘present in the moment with awareness’(…ommmm).

I was really inspired by the place and left feeling as if I had been taking mind altering drugs. When I got into the car to leave I did the usual thing of turning the radio on but had to turn it off immediately, it seemed so invasive. When I got home my children thought I was far tooooo relaxed and even now 3 weeks later I feel the benefit of its tranquility (I'm smiling a lot). I don’t think the Ashram is for everyone, roughing it and the slighty cult feel was not for Deb, who said she felt a bit of a fraud, but I am glad I gave it a try and will definitely return!"

The Mandala Yoga Ashram can be found in the wonderfully named village of Pantypistyll, Camarthanshire, Wales.

Lindsey Howell interiors.

We Love: The Papered Parlour

Clapham isn't really a part of London we associate with the craft community. But artist Claire Heafford and best friends photographer Louise Hall aim to change that with the launch of their creative community venue The Papered Parlour.

Converted from a bland office building, the interior intentionally feels like someones living room as Claire and Louise wanted to create a friendly inclusive space, a million miles away from some of the more intimidating arts venues around London.

Locals are encouraged to pop in to browse books, listen to old records or drink tea. There is also space for theatre groups to put on evening events and classes for adults and children in screen printing, drawing, book making, quilting and felt and jewellery design.

The venue aims to promote collaboration and skill swapping and includes studio spaces available to ten artists each from a different discipline.
There will be a ongoing varied programme of courses, one-off workshops, exhibtions and events, such as a 50's inspired dance and a Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

The current exhibition titled 'What goes around...', brings together three of London’s most exciting young designers, textile practitioner Katherine May and printed textile designers Clara Vuletich and Polly Burton. Their work features contemporary quilted upholstery, hand printed wallpaper and mid century furniture updated using upcycled fabrics contemporary colours.

What with the opening of Jamie Olivers Recipease and now The Papered Parlour, we may have to venture south of the river more often!

The Papered Parlour,
10.30am-6pm,
7 Prescott Place,
SW4 6BS,
020 7627 8703